Beornia
The Kingdom of Beornia Capital: Camelot Written by Athalcor Following the French Wars of Succession, the Kingdom of England emerged as the greatest power in Europe during the early modern era. But that did not mean that the English citizens became members of the ruling class. With the majority of the post-Norman English nobility being Francophone, it was not long before further alienation of the upper class from the ordinary Englishmen and the moving of the court of the Dual Thrones to the mainland with England becoming once again just a province of a Romance realm. While portions of the English population, especially in the more populated cities in the South, embraced the French supremacy willingly, abandoning their Germanic roots in the process, the inhabitants of northern England did not give up so easily. As it usually happens in large heterogeneous realms, those on the outskirts feel neglected and discriminated. As such, the North developed quite a grudge against the Plantagenet monarchy, fuelled by Scandinavians who became united with the Scottish Crown in the early 16th century. Hoping to sow a seed of discontent in the Anglo-French dominion, Scandinavians spread the idea of a Church free from Rome and, by extension, from Paris. The notion of Protestantism was seen by local political elites as a powerful means to gain a degree of autonomy and was wholeheartedly accepted by the common folk who felt detached from the incomprehensible world of Latin liturgy. And thus, the Reformed Anglican Church was born. The Dual Monarchy was initially tolerant to the various branches of Protestantism spreading throughout her realm. Fearing a possible rebellion in England which would most definitely prove costly and difficult for the Court in Paris while having his eyes firmly set on the affairs on the mainland, Édouard V issued the Edict of Cantorbéry in 1553, legalising the Reformed Church. This document also granted the English nobility a large degree of freedom in their local matters - together with the Irish autonomy, the beginning of the second half of the 16th century saw a major decline of Plantagenet control over the Isles, even though the English Parliament was officially abolished by Édouard's father in 1537. This should change quickly, though. The Irish independence was systematically destroyed during the three Irish Wars and at the dawn of the 17th century the line of appeasement kings ended with François I who aggressively challenged the breakup of the religious unity and stood firm against Burgundy, the champion of the Protestant faith. The Catholic forces eventually emerged victorious in the Anglo-French Wars of Religion, both externally and internally. Securing the outer border, François decided to finish the 'Insular Problem' once and for all and while he deployed forces in the Nine Years' War against the Irish, he also abolished the Edict of Canterbéry and began a massive re-catholisation of the English lands. While the nobles, often fearing the loss of their holdings mostly surrendered to the Catholic king, the lower classes did not share the same sentiment. With the lands of Ameriga being gradually discovered by Anglo-French and Burgundian navigators, the desperate Anglicans saw them as the new Promised Land where they shall be granted freedom and independence. And so, similarly to the French Huguenots, large groups of Englishmen refusing to accept the Catholic faith fled to the harbours in the Lowlands from which they set sail towards the New World. Seeking escape from the French domination, the Father Pilgrims (as they will be later named) arrived after facing the difficulties of the Trans-Atlantic voyage at the coast of Neo Anglia, a land even deeper in the south than the Burgundian colony of Nouvelle Amsterdam. Neo Anglia was unofficially claimed by England-France which even established several settlements there, especially near the Riviere de l’Argent. But the Dual Monarchy's zones of interest were wide and so the Court of Paris had to abandon some of its endeavours every now and then. Seeing that Neo Anglia was subject of the influx of Anglican settlers supported by the Burgundians, the Plantagenet administration quickly decided to abandon this potential powder keg which would most probably simply drain the valuable resources of the realm and relocated its focus elsewhere. And so the Kingdom of England-in-exile slowly started to emerge, first independent settler state in the New World. The Anglicans, obviously carrying much hatred against Romance languages in general, swiftly started changing remaining Anglo-French names to more suitable ones. Being a mixture of English patriots and fierce Anglicans, the land was designated accordingly - hence you can now visit Seaxburgh and New Jerusalem, Eoferwic and Æthelwulf, all in one country. So in the 1630s, the English settlements started quickly developing with more and more people arriving from Albion, hearing news about the Eden on Earth. A desire for unity began to grow and in 1657 the representatives of important communes arrived at the place where it all began, at the isthmus of the Silver River, eager to build a united country. Fierciely believing in the concept of royal majesty and overall bound by the 17th century mentality, they decided to establish a Kingdom, maintaining the English Crown here in exile of South Ameriga. With almost no important nobles being among them, John Cavendish, being a renegade son of the Duke of Newcastle and one of the ship captains who led the first Father Pilgrims in the 1620s was chosen to be the new realm's leader. Cavendish, being industrious and having already scouted the land before during his services as a Burgundian privateer saw the opportunity of carving a power base for himself in the New World and settled soon in the lands of Avalon (the formerly occupied Neo Anglia) and further sponsored the efforts of Anglicans to bring more fellow countrymen to Ameriga. As such, he became a well-known and respected member of the society during the first half of the 17th century. And so John Cavendish, being well in his sixties, became the first King of the new Kingdom in 1658, stylising himself as Edward I. The nation's capital was founded at the Silver River which proved to be an important source of wealth for the Anglicans. In tradition of mixing Anglo-Saxon, Anglican and Briton heritage, the city was named Camelot and the Kingdom changed from England-in-exile to Beornicia honouring old Anglo-Saxon settlers with the name soon corrupted to Beornia by popular use. John Cavendish, now Edward I, thus founded the House of Beornia, essentially claiming the Crown of England. But truth be told, no one really cared. Beornia was distant and sparselypopulated and after the initial Anglican influx, the flow of immigrants almost stopped. Devout to Puritanism, with a weird language and even weirder customs, New England quickly isolated itself from the outside world, only dealing with the Burgundian governors from time to time. But even despite that the Kingdom grew. Expanding as far as the Lake Ginosar and even beyond, the Beornian colonists soon came to contact with the Incas in the early 18th century. The massives of Andes (named after one of the Incan suyus) proved to be a solid border, though, and no real conflict with the Empire emerged. The 18th century was quite peaceful throughout the Beornian lands, aside of some petty feudal squabbles and battles with natives. The only event worth mentioning was the short-lived war of succession when Henry, the Duke of Godwinson, rose against his infant cousin Harold and the appointed regent Sir Peter Bryne in 1757, seizing Camelot in 1758 only to be ousted by loyalists during the same year, defeated in 1760 and executed the same year. His estates were then appropriated by Sir Bryne who became the new Duke of Godwinson. Eventually, the 19th century and the modern era creeped in, even in Ameriga. The citizens of European colonies started to doubt the oversea governance and one after another started anti-European actions. In 1805, the Burgundian colony of Lotharingia began her own quest for independence and Beornians were quite keen on helping. Arthur III of Beornia, being one of the more enlightened Kings who had his children educated in Europe, believed in the ideals of freedom and hoped that the Lotharians achieve them and become another freed New World country. He even attended the ceremony in Charlemagne officially celebrating the birth of the Lotharian Republic. Talks over the end of the firm feudal regime and birth of a Beornian constitution ended abruptly, though, in 1817 when Edward IV, Arthur's son became King, returning from Europe enchanted by the notion of Bohemian absolutism. Camelot's alliance with Lotharingia held, despite that, more specifically the alliance with the authoritarian elements, especially the would-be dictator De Aigle. With Beornian help, De Aigle was in spite of several major setbacks able to restore order in the newborn republic which was in the middle of a downward spiral. He was a person to Edward's liking, even marrying his niece in 1827 with the Beornian ruler dreaming to spread the true English nobility throughout the new post-colonial states. Two centuries passed since the foundation of Beornia and a new era dawns. Will the traditionalistic Kingdom survive the contact with reality? The lands in the south are ripe for taking but without much of a value...Beornia needs to reform itself to become a proper modern state, throwing away the shackles of feudalism and backward mentality, or else it will be crushed by the wheel of time, reduced to obscurity in the world of progress... List of Beornian Kings: Edward I: 1658-1669 (House of Beornia) Edward II: 1669-1705 (House of Beornia) Arthur I: 1705-1707 (House of Beornia) Harold I: 1707-1721 (House of Beornia) Arthur II: 1721-1739 (House of Beornia) Edward III: 1739-1756 (House of Beornia) Harold II: 1756-1757 (House of Beornia) Henry I: 1757-1760 (House of Beornia-Starbaton) (pretender, controlling Camelot only during 1758) Harold II: 1758-1788 (House of Beornia) (restored rule) Harold III: 1788-1795 (House of Beornia) Arthur IV: 1795-1817 (House of Beornia) Edward IV: 1817- (House of Beornia)